United reports lower traffic in April

United Continental, the largest carrier at Denver International Airport, on Monday reported traffic and capacity fell in April, as it grapples with travel cuts from oil-patch corporate customers, along with lower surcharges. The Chicago-based company reported a 0.9% decline in capacity in April along with a 1.9% decline in traffic, as measured by revenue-passenger miles. United still expects the key passenger-revenue metric, which measures how much a passenger pays to fly a mile, to fall in the range of 6.5% to 8.5% in Q2. The company had blamed the Q2 projected decline on soft April bookings, overcapacity in international routes and the stronger US dollar. Domestic traffic edged up 0.6%, while international traffic fell 3%, with declines across regions. Load factor, or percentage of seats filled, fell 0.9 percentage points in April to 80.5%. <br/>